Features
When Christian Atsu followed Pelé
When Ednes Arantes do Nascimento died in the very twilight of 2022 the world stood still. Not that his death was unexpected; he was losing his battle against colon cancer and, at a point, was not responding to any medication. The world knew him simply as Pelé.
What endeared Pelé to the world was his persona on and off the football field. He was a gentleman par excellence, a model to budding footballers, a philanthropist and an exceptionally humble person. He was the only person to have won three World Cups, scored 1,283 (some say 1,289) goals in his career.
Many who did not see Pelé in action back in his day are quick to compare him to the Argentine legend, Diego Amardo Maradona, as the greatest footballer of all time. What put Pelé over and above Maradona was the totality of their characters. The Argentine had dented his own image by drugs that eventually caused his early demise. Maradona failed as a credible ambassador for the sweet game of football with his addiction to cocaine.
Though Pelé was almost a Don Juan, his escapades did not diminish his stature on the world scene. He was, indeed, declared athlete of the 20th Century. He was a UNICEF ambassador and supported orphanages financially. Many of these deeds became known after his death.
Then comes the tragic, untimely yet painful death of Ghana’s own Christian Atsu Twasam in the earthquake in Turkiye on the 6th of last month. Ghanaians were on tenterhooks when it was announced that Atsu was on the 9th floor of an apartment block that suffered the natural disaster.
We crossed our fingers in prayer that he should be pulled out alive and, for almost a week after, nothing was heard about his whereabouts. His partner, with whom he had three children, cried to the world to find her man. His twin sister did the same from Ghana.
And when the news broke of the discovery of his remains Ghana was totally heartbroken. In the end it put a nation’s anxiety to rest. We had a closure one way or another. That gem of a professional footballer was gone. But the pain will manifest at his funeral and after.
Atsu was just as humble as Pelé was and even more philanthropic. Though very shy before the cameras he was not as shy with his generosity.
As an ardent follower of football I have followed the life and game of many world Ghanaian footballers. Atsu was one such person. I knew he was overly philanthropic and I had met with a few people who were beneficiaries of his generosity.
But, most of them were quick to add that Atsu did not want them to make noise about what he did for them. I am told he bought instruments for a friend who wanted to establish a church, but warned him not to engage in false miracle performances.
My heart went to the poor children who I watched sobbing in a video from a school Atsu had helped establish. It was really heart-wrenching to watch.
People have spoken on radio and television attesting to Atsu’s benevolence. This is what makes me happy. Happy, because great souls will do great things and prefer no adulation and public mention of their good deeds. Atsu is a great soul. He reminds me of the Christ Jesus who healed people and told them not to tell anyone.
Of course, Christ knew that the people He healed would not keep their mouths shut. So did Atsu because some of us knew his goodness. I’m in no way comparing Christian Atsu to Jesus. I’m only trying to accentuate the esoteric that we should not let trumpets herald the good we do for others.
As there is no vacuum in nature, our goodness will get told one way or the other. It is not for us to gloat. Atsu knew his own background and did not want to see others face similar circumstances if he could help it. He did not need to earn the megabucks as some footballers did in order to help. Help he did.
I am unable to forgive the ignoramuses; I rather pity them. I have read and heard some of these characters try to chastise those who are eulogising Atsu for his deeds. Their beef is why they did not praise Atsu while he was alive. How do you celebrate a benefactor who tells you not to make noise about what he does for you?
I used to tell my children that they would only know who their Dad was at my funeral. I have even since revised this so that no tributes are presented at my cremation. If no trumpets heralded my birth, why should they herald my departure? But the only choice Atsu had was to do silent deeds.
Sadly, some of those criticising the praise singers are men of God who should know better. This only points to our lighthearted or fake approach to God’s work. I was hoping they would call on Atsu’s footballing colleagues to take over and care for those poor children who have become ‘orphaned’ by his death.
I know some of our so-called stars would rather gather friends and acquaintances to go out and chill in an all-night orgy of self indulgence. After all, no one earned the money for them. I know there are others doing bigger things than Atsu sought to do, yet make no noise about their deeds. I know those who would give goodies to their parents in the full glare of the public.
As is with every sad situation, lessons abound in the Atsu narrative. How do we in the public limelight handle our lives and our affairs? What legacy do we leave when we are no more? How do we expect to be remembered? Whether we leave a positive footprint in the sands of time is an individual choice to make.
Some died and only a paragraph was written in their memories. Some were not even made public till you asked of them before you knew they were gone. Very soon, Atsu will be all but forgotten, save the beneficiaries of his largesse. However, his benevolence will live after him.
Let us encourage those who are minded to use their public image and resources to help the less fortunate do so without let or hindrance. There is always a blessing and a sense of fulfillment in giving rather than receiving.
Pelé left a footprint on the football stage that will never be wiped out. No wonder FIFA has decreed that each member country should dedicate and name one stadium after the great Brazilian. Many countries have started. However, Ghana has a Pelé of its own in the person of Abedi Ayew.
Therefore, if any of our stadiums is named Pelé, many Ghanaians will think it is after our legend, Abedi. I am yet to know what our government and the GFA will do about this. If you asked me, I would suggest a Do Nascimento Stadium. What of Do Nascimento Pelé Stadium?
Now, is there anything the GFA can do to immortalise Christian Atsu? His could be a special case when we come to think of the circumstances of his painful exit.
May the Good Lord grant Christian Atsu Twasam eternal rest and grant his family and friends the fortitude to bear the great loss.
Writer’s email address:
akofa45@yahoo.com
By Dr. Akofa K. Segbefia
Features
Tears of Ghanaman, home and abroad
The typical native of Sikaman is by nature a hospitable creature, a social animal with a big heart, a soul full of the milk of earthly goodness, and a spirit too loving for its own comfort.
Ghanaman hosts a foreign pal and he spends a fortune to make him very happy and comfortable-good food, clean booze, excellent accommodation and a woman for the night.
Sometimes the pal leaves without saying a “thank you but Ghanaman is not offended. He’d host another idiot even more splendidly. His nature is warm, his spirit benevolent. That is the typical Ghanaian and no wonder that many African-Americans say, “If you haven’t visited Ghana. Then you’ve not come to Africa.
You can even enter the country without a passport and a visa and you’ll be welcomed with a pot of palm wine.
If Ghanaman wants to go abroad, especially to an European country or the United States, it is often after an ordeal.
He has to doze in a queue at dawn at the embassy for days and if he is lucky to get through to being interviewed, he is confronted by someone who claims he or she has the power of discerning truth from lie.
In short Ghanaman must undergo a lie-detector test and has to answer questions that are either nonsensical or have no relevance to the trip at hand. When Joseph Kwame Korkorti wanted a visa to an European country, the attache studied Korkorti’s nose for a while and pronounced judgment.
“The way I see you, you won’t return to Ghana if I allow you to go. Korkorti nearly dislocated her jaw; Kwasiasem akwaakwa. In any case what had Korkorti’s nose got to do with the trip?
If Ghanaman, after several attempts, manages to get the visa and lands in the whiteman’s land, he is seen as another monkey uptown, a new arrival of a degenerate ape coming to invade civilized society. He is sneered at, mocked at and avoided like a plague. Some landlords abroad will not hire their rooms to blacks because they feel their presence in itself is bad business.
When a Sikaman publisher landed overseas and was riding in a public bus, an urchin who had the impudence and notoriety of a dead cockroach told his colleagues he was sure the black man had a tail which he was hiding in his pair of trousers. He didn’t end there. He said he was in fact going to pull out the tail for everyone to see.
True to his word he went and put his hand into the backside of the bewildered publisher, intent on grabbing his imaginary tail and pulling it out. It took a lot of patience on the part of the publisher to avert murder. He practically pinned the white miscreant on the floor by the neck and only let go when others intervene. Next time too…
The way we treat our foreign guests in comparison with the way they treat us is polar contrasting-two disparate extremes, one totally incomparable to the other. They hound us for immigration papers, deport us for overstaying and skinheads either target homes to perpetrate mayhem or attack black immigrants to gratify their racial madness
When these same people come here we accept them even more hospitably than our own kin. They enter without visas, overstay, impregnate our women and run away.
About half of foreigners in this country do not have valid resident permits and was not a bother until recently when fire was put under the buttocks of the Immigration Service
In fact, until recently I never knew Sikaman had an Immigration Service. The problem is that although their staff look resplendent in their green outfit, you never really see them anywhere. You’d think they are hidden from the public eye.
The first time I saw a group of them walking somewhere, I nearly mistook them for some sixth-form going to the library. Their ladies are pretty though.
So after all, Sikaman has an Immigration Service which I hear is now alert 24 hours a day tracking down illegal aliens and making sure they bound the exit via Kotoka International. A pat on their shoulder.
I am glad the Interior Ministry has also realised that the country has been too slack about who goes out or comes into Sikaman.
Now the Ministry has warned foreigners not to take the country’s commitment to its obligations under the various conditions as a sign of weakness or a source for the abuse of her hospitality.
“Ghana will not tolerate any such abuse,” Nii Okaija Adamafio, the Interior Minister said, baring his teeth and twitching his little moustache. He was inaugurating the Ghana Refugee and Immigration Service Boards.
He said some foreigners come in as tourists, investors, consultants, skilled workers or refugees. Others come as ‘charlatans, adventurers or plain criminals. “
Yes, there are many criminals among them. Our courts have tried a good number of them for fraud and misconduct.
It is time we welcome only those who would come and invest or tour and go back peacefully and not those whose criminal intentions are well-hidden but get exposed in due course of time.
This article was first published on Saturday March 14, 1998
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Features
Decisions have consequences
In this world, it is always important to recognise that every action or decision taken, has consequences.
It can result in something good or bad, depending on the quality of the decision, that is, the factors that were taken into account in the decision making.
The problem with a bad decision is that, in some instances, there is no opportunity to correct the result even though you have regretted the decision, which resulted in the unpleasant outcome.
This is what a friend of mine refers to as having regretted an unregretable regret. After church last Sunday, I was watching a programme on TV and a young lady was sharing with the host, how a bad decision she took, had affected her life immensely and adversely.
She narrated how she met a Caucasian and she got married to him. The white man arranged for her to join him after the marriage and processes were initiated for her to join her husband in UK. It took a while for the requisite documentation to be procured and during this period, she took a decision that has haunted her till date.
According to her narration, she met a man, a Ghanaian, who she started dating, even though she was a married woman.
After a while her documents were ready and so she left to join her husband abroad without breaking off the unholy relationship with the man from Ghana.
After she got to UK, this man from Ghana, kept pressuring her to leave the white man and return to him in Ghana. The white man at some point became a bit suspicious and asked about who she has been talking on the phone with for long spells, and she lied to him that it was her cousin.
Then comes the shocker. After the man from Ghana had sweet talked her continuously for a while, she decided to leave her husband and return to Ghana after only three weeks abroad.
She said, she asked the guy to swear to her that he would take care of both her and her mother and the guy swore to take good care of her and her mother as well as rent a 3-bedroom flat for her. She then took the decision to leave her husband and return to Ghana.
She told her mum that she was returning to Ghana to marry the guy in Ghana. According to her, her mother vigorously disagreed with her decision and wept.
She further added that her mum told her brother and they told her that they were going to tell her husband about her intentions.
According to her, she threatened that if they called her husband to inform him, then she would commit suicide, an idea given to her by the boyfriend in Ghana.
Her mum and brother afraid of what she might do, agreed not to tell her husband. She then told her husband that she was returning to Ghana to attend her Grandmother’s funeral.
The husband could not understand why she wanted to go back to Ghana after only three weeks stay so she had to lie that in their tradition, grandchildren are required to be present when the grandmother dies and is to be buried.
She returned to Ghana; the flat turns into a chamber and hall accommodation, the promise to take care of her mother does not materialise and generally she ends up furnishing the accommodation herself. All the promises given her by her boyfriend, turned out to be just mere words.
A phone the husband gave her, she left behind in UK out of guilty conscience knowing she was never coming back to UK.
Through that phone and social media, the husband found out about his boyfriend and that was the end of her marriage.
Meanwhile, things have gone awry here in Ghana and she had regretted and at a point in her narration, was trying desperately to hold back tears. Decisions indeed have consequences.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’
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